


Broken People

by jennity



Series: Treading Water, Fueling Flames [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Abduction, Abuse, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Domestic Violence, Domestic dispute, Drugs, Good-kid Ben, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Little Rey the engineer, Relationship violence, Violence, more abuse implied, shitty parenting, this is dark shit, trigger warnings abound, trigger warnings apply
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 10:50:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7265068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennity/pseuds/jennity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a heavy, really awful scenario. Modern AU in which Rey and her parents are neighbors of the Organa-Solo household and Rey briefly becomes part of their family before disappearing. Heavy on the trigger warnings, here. TW: Original character deaths, abduction, violence, drugs & alcohol, arson, domestic abuse, and could be read as implied other shit.<br/>Recently edited and going to be a (short) on-going fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken People

**Author's Note:**

> This is very unfortunately based off of three real life experiences that I've witnessed. My stomach was churning after this weekend when the pool incident occurred and I had to explain to my six year old why her friends had to come and stay with us for a while. The girls are okay, thank gods, but I'm left shaken and suspicious now. This idea nagging at me to write it out in a way to vent it, get it out of my head and heart and maybe make sense of it in the context of fictional characters. Sorry for the depressing shit. I churned this out between classes, so I'm sorry if there's mistakes. 
> 
> Rey is 5, Ben just turned 16.

It was late on a Saturday afternoon in June, heat pressing on the street to the point where you could see the hazy waves of air hovering over the black-top pavement. Han had insisted Ben mow the lawn in this crippling weather, but the mower stopped short not even halfway into the fresh cut when they heard it. Chewie’s ears perked first, then Ben heard a scream from a few houses down and Leia rushed out to see what the commotion was about.

Five houses away, the porch door burst and clattered open, two adults tumbling through the now broken door hanging off its hinges. They wrestling on the ground, screaming and swearing at the top of their longs. The man, Patrick, had a nose that was bloodied and broken and the woman, Angela, sported a fat lip and the beginnings of a shiner.

“Han--” Leia started as her husband quickly headed down the street, “Leia, call the police-”  
She was already waiting for the dispatcher and peering anxiously to see the damage the couple had done to one another when he tossed the command over his shoulder.  
Han strode purposefully, Chewie and Ben dutifully at his heels. When they arrived on the lawn, they almost didn’t notice the young girl, sobbing quietly into her arms, knees hugged to her chest by the front shrubs. She was soaked through her clothes, teeth clattering, lips a light blue, shivering as if she’d been dunked in ice water. Han pulled the two violently thrashing adults apart, Chewie growling and barking from behind him until Ben grabbed his collar hastily, not wanting to add a dog attack to the drama. Chewie’s attention diverted to the little girl, placed himself protectively between her and her parents, assuming a protective stance.

Han had a hand out to each of the adults, holding them apart and looking intimidating in his own right. 

“My wife called the police, they’re going to come to help,” he bit out as the man and woman glared daggers at each other and then started yelling over one another to be heard and tell their side of the story. 

The girl’s soft, watery whimpers could barely be heard through the quarreling, but Han asserted himself again. “My son Ben is going to take Rey for a walk and then back to my house to watch a movie and eat lunch. My wife is there and will make sure she’s dry and safe. When you two have dealt with this, she’ll be waiting for her parents at our house,” he glanced and nodded over to Ben, who, released Chewie’s collar only to startle when the dog bounded forward. 

Much to the boy’s relief, though, he was nuzzling and licking at the girl’s face, all puppy-dog eyes and whining. The woman swiped her sleeve across her face, pulling away the bloodied cloth and nodded once to Han, her eyes not flickering to her five year old but still fixed in a narrow glare at her husband. He scowled back, looking like a distorted horror-movie clown as the blood oozed out of his now-crooked nose and seeped through the shirt clinging to his torso. 

The mother, Angela, he later found out, grunted a thank you at Han for drawing her daughter out of the line of fire. Ben knelt down and held out a hand to the child, lifting her to her feet and wrapping an arm protectively around her shoulder as the shaking and shivering girl made her way up the street with him and his dog, her wet shoes making a thick squelching noise with every step. He watched over his shoulder as her parents barely even acknowledged that their child was shivering and shaken, not to mention being led off by an almost-complete stranger.

Rey seemed at ease, though, her hand curled into Chewie’s long, thick fur, the dog slowing his steps to keep pace with the child and continuing nuzzling her hand and lick her fingers. When they’d gotten to the half-cut lawn, he paused and looked at the little girl. 

“Let me run inside and get you a towel,” he offered hastily, taking in the young girl’s appearance. She reminded him of a drowned cat.

She was dripping, hair plastered across her forehead and thin fabric drenched over her petite frame. He returned moments later with a warm, fluffy black towel from his mother, and wrapped it around her shoulders as he lead her inside. Leia stood in the front hall, ready to help the girl into the bathroom so she could clean up, dry off, and change her clothes. Ben paced, continually peeking out the front door to where Han was now speaking with several officers as both of Rey’s parents sat on the lawn being tended to by the emergency response team.

When the girl returned, her hair was still damp and she was swimming in Ben’s old band t-shirt and shorts, but she seemed physically unharmed and though still rattled, she settled into the vast leather couch in the living room, contently curling up into the blanket Ben proffered. 

After a moment of asking his mother what he could do to help, Ben handed her a bowl of crackers, some lemonade and the remote and she gaped at him as if these items were precious, taking the remote reverently as she sipped carefully at the drink and scarfed down the crackers until Leia had brought out some warm food to munch on. Chicken and fries and pizza rolls, an extravagant luxury to the little girl. Rey was ravenous and as she ate hastily as if it would be taken away any moment, Ben wondered with concern when the last time she’d eaten was. It was harder tell now that she was in baggy clothes, but when the wet material of her small dress had clung to her she looked as if she were too thin, ribs visible beneath the fabric.  
She flipped through the channels for a good half an hour, as if fascinated by the opportunity to browse and choose what she wanted to watch before settling on Beauty and the Beast and watching with quiet adoration as the talking furnishings welcomed the book-loving Belle into the castle and performed for her. 

Ben and his mother observed the girl from the open-seating dining room, as she sat nestled in a small bundle of hand-me-downs and blankets, resting contentedly in the deep cushions and not even flinching when the flashing lights flickered across her face from the windows. Ben quickly drew the thick curtain, casting her pale face in only the dim light of the flashing television. Aside from her skinny frame, pale features and wet hair, the only thing that appeared to be off about the girl were her red rimmed and puffy eyed and the chapped lips, cracked after worrying them between sharp newly-grown teeth, her tongue darting out now and again to wet them so they wouldn’t dry and crack more.

She had seemed famished, exhausted, and altogether too… unnoticed for a little girl her age. Because of her inattention to the events outside the house, the sirens, the screaming, and the shouting, Ben quietly asked Leia if he should call child services. He and Leia watched her as her eyes glazed over instead at the magic of the cartoon.

“I already have. Maz will be here soon. Just keep her company while I go and talk with your father okay?” 

Ben nodded and settled in next to the little girl. They sat in quiet, Rey staring at the screen and Ben absently staring at her, watching her minuscule micro-reactions to the events on the screen. The little winces when the beast lashed out, the crinkling of her eyes in a tiny smile, her lip quirking only a little at Lumiere’s behavior. She seemed completely unphased by what had just happened, by seeing her parents attacking one another, by being inexplicably drenched and then lead off to a neighbor’s house, neighbors she only vaguely knew. So much for stranger danger… Ben frowned. 

“Your name is Rey, right?” he asked, and she glanced away from the television to meet his eyes with a wary nod. “I’m Ben,” he offered, holding out his hand to hear. She looked at it for a long moment and then reached for it. Instead of shaking it like he expected, she held onto it, bringing his large hand to her lap and lacing her tiny digits through his. He startled a little at this, but didn’t pull away. It appeared all she needed was something or someone to hold onto. He felt a wave of affection mixed with pity for the child as he watched her expressions flit according to the movie. 

"How old are you?" he asked her quietly. "I'm five and a half," she said, tone matter-of-fact and a small smile brought her eyes to his, smiling with pride. "I'm a big girl, now. Daddy told me." 

He nodded, biting his lower lip in thought. 

"How old are you? You're tall. You must be old," she interrupted, eyes wide in curiosity. Ben laughed at this, a sharp barking sound, and the girl scrunched her nose in confusion. "What?" she whined, a slight pout forming on her little lips. 

"How old do you think I am?" he asked, amused.  
"Thirty?" she guessed with a shrug.  
He vaguely remembered from a childhood psychology class that little ones equated height with age and he chuckled quietly. "I'm just 16," he said gently, still smiling.  
She nodded and turned her attention back to the television, no longer interested in the conversation, but her fingers gripped his a little tighter.

If this whole ordeal was so uninteresting to her, if she felt safer and more comfortable here, holding hands with a lanky, moody teenager than at her own home with her parents….he wondered how often this sort of thing happened. How many times did they fight like this? How many times was Rey involved? What had happened to her that they could have prevented if only they’d been more present, Han home instead of traveling, Leia home instead of in meetings, Ben home instead of wandering off with crowd and causing trouble like lighting bonfires in the woods? Chewie settled in on the couch on her other side, head resting in her lap as she and Ben began to absentmindedly pet him.

Han returned about twenty minutes later, accompanied by a small and wrinkled old woman, giant-rimmed glasses perched precariously on her face, magnifying her eyes as she looked over Rey and Ben on the couch before proceeding to talk with Han and Leia quietly in the kitchen. Ben strained to hear, but then his eyes focused on Rey as the movie ended and she sniffled before fingering the remote again, finding that the Little Mermaid would be on next so leaving the channel untouched. 

“You okay kid?” he asked gently. She turned, her eyes wide, surprised and momentarily confused by his question. “Yes,” she said simply, nodding. He continued to hold her gaze, though, not daring to look away until she fidgeted with the fringe on the old worn blanket, the corners of which he had unraveled when he was her age.

“Mommy and daddy were arguing about mommy’s phone. He was mad that she was talking to someone, so he threw it in the pool. I thought if I got it they’d stop fighting,” she explained, as if she were talking about the weather or what she thought about their pet fish that swam in circles in a small tank by the television. “It didn’t work.” She blinked, her eyes watery but not spilling. Ben frowned, eyeing her carefully to see if she had incurred any of the wrath of the two parents who were supposed to take care of her.

Her gaze was yet again entranced with the television screen, looking longingly at the oceanic orchestra led by the small and cranky crab. “I...can’t swim,” she admitted quietly, eyes flicking quickly to him as he stiffened in his seat before returning and zeroing in on the little mermaid, singing about how she desperately longed for a different world. 

“How did you…?” he started to ask but she just shrugged her shoulders and muttered, “don’t know.” Before tuning him out. He had asked her if she was hurt, but she didn’t respond, after either deciding that she no longer wanted to talk or having actually slipping into a half-sleep induced by the cartoons, safety, warmth, and full belly.

Maz cleared her throat and Ben took a last glance at the little girl before nodding respectfully to the old woman and standing, disturbing Rey only long enough for her to notice that he was leaving before Maz settled into his place and he returned to where his parents were huddled in the kitchen having whispered conversation. They hushed when Ben approached, and he didn’t take that as a good sign.

“Where are her parents?” he asked cautiously, noticing that Han’s normally well-worn clothes were more rust-colored than they had been earlier. 

Dried blood. 

“Her father’s behind bars for the night, her mother’s in the ER.” 

Ben frowned and nodded and waited, arms crossed and eyes piercing until his dad gave in and told him the whole tale. 

“They were arguing about something, he threw her phone in the pool, she found the closest thing to hit him with- a wrench- and then… well they got physical until they caught our attention.” Han ran a hand through his hair, his face dark and eyes looking more tired than usual. 

Ben’s frown deepened and his brow furrowed. “Did they happen to mention that their daughter almost drowned trying to get the stupid phone out of the pool? To get them to stop fighting?” Ben bit out in a quietly seething rage, his parents startled at the revelation. 

“Well that certainly explains the wet clothes…” Leia huffed, strands of hair having escaped her buns floating up out of her eyes while her hand found her forehead as if nursing a particularly nasty headache. Han glowered at the floor and Ben bit back his acidic temper. Rey didn’t need to witness one of his fits after what she went through. He wanted to ring the necks of the people supposedly responsible for that poor girl, but he restrained himself from storming off and causing destruction. No, this girl deserved better. Enough grown-ups have let her down, and although Ben was a moody and angsty teen, he was determined to make sure she wasn't neglected or ignored. Or worse. He cringed at the thought and excused himself, taking the kettle and filling it to make her some hot cocoa with marshmallows while Han and Leia spoke with Maz again.

It had been decided that, as Leia and Han were both highly respected community members and Rey seemed like she felt safe in their home and had in fact requested to stay with them, that she would be staying in the Organa-Solo household until her parents were capable of taking care of her again. 

When Ben delivered the hot chocolate and told the news to Rey quietly, she took a few sips and hummed contentedly.  
"So your my family now?" she asked, taking another tentative sip before snuggling into him. He hummed his agreement, and nodded, placing a gentle kiss into her hair. "Yeah, sweetie. We'll always be your family, whenever you need or want us." She smiled and wiggled, making herself more comfortable before falling asleep on his shoulder. 

It was the beginning of a summer that changed Ben Organa-Solo forever.


End file.
